Index for loose-leaf records and the like.



v s. B. KIRTLEY. INDEX FOB. LOOSE LEAF RECORDS AND THE LIKE.

' APPLICATION FILED NOV. 23, 1909.

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SIMEON B. KIRTLEY, OF COLUMBIA, MISSOURI.

INDEX FOR LOOSE-LEAF RECORDS AND THE LIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 23, 1909. Serial No. 529,588.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, SIunoN B. KIRTLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Columbia, in the county of Boone and State of Missouri, have invented new and useful Improvements in Indexes for Loose-Leaf Records and the Like, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the indexing of loose leaf records and has for its object primarily to improve loose leaf ledgers or similar books, as will be hereinafter pointed out.

I have already made certain inventions in the art of indexing, one of which is illustrated in and covered by my reissued Patent No. 12,446, dated February 6, 1906.

It frequently happens that a person desires to convert an ordinary loose leaf ledger into one of the self-indexed kind, such for instance as that illustrated in my aforesaid patent, or in the drawings accompanying this specification, and in doing so to retain the account sheets or ledger leaves which are already in use and more or less filled up, thus preserving the integrity of the several accounts or records as they exist at the time of the change, and avoiding the necessity of re-copying the records; and it is one of the objects of my invention to make possible such conversion in an easy and expeditious manner, and at the same time to secure for such transferred records the advantages incident to the self-indexing features. The means by which this is accomplished I will now describe, reference being had to the accompanying drawings;

Figure l is a perspective view of the upper end of a section of a self-indexed ledger embodying my present invention. Fig. 2 is a similar view to Fig. 1, the ledger being opened and displaying some of the ledger sheets.

In these drawings the thiclmess of the sheets or leaves of the ledger is very much exaggerated for the purpose of easily indicating the relations of the leaves one to the other.

The ledger sheets 2 have their upper ends cut away to display portions of successive sheets in a stepped series 3 as is usual in self-indexed ledgers. portions of the ledger sheets are displayed indexing characters, those shown being such as are employed for the A section of a ledger. I do not wish to be limited to this particular arrangement of the indexing char- Upon the exposed acters as they may be placed upon the up permost sheet of the section and arranged respectively opposite the successively ex-' posed portions of the ledger sheets, a method I have illustrated and claimed in my pending application No. 445,518, filed July 27, 1908. This index, designated as a whole by 6, is termed a main or primary index, since it is primarily employed in locating the accounts or other records, they being arranged in proper alphabetic sequence. The ordinary ledger sheets 2 are of full length and standard size.

A11 understanding of the invention can best be had by an explanation of the method of using it.

Referring particularly to Fig. 2, which illustrates the ledger opened to the Ai subdivision, this being accomplished by raising the sheet having its exposed section designate Adr Ah it. will be supposed that the ledger contains six accounts which are indexed under the character Ai, namely, those of A. C. Ainsworth, C. M. Ainsworth, D. P. Ainsworth, 0. D. Aiken, A. W. Airhart, and W. WV. Aiton. Of these, threethose of A. C. Ainsworth, O. D. Aiken, and A. IV. Airhart, are new accounts, that is, accounts opened since the self-indexed ledger was started, and the remaining three are old accounts, the sheets bearing which have been bodily transferred from another ledger. The new accounts referred to are placed respectively upon the sheets 2*, 2 2, which are full size sheets, having their upper edges cut back to a greater extent than the sheet 2 bearing the designation Ai Ale so as not to cover these characters when the sheets are in place. The exposed parts 3 of these sheets 2*, 2 2 are in stepped relation to each other, and each may be, and preferably is, marked to designate the par ticular record which it bears. This method of inserting additional sheets between the primarily indexed sheets or the sheets having exposed parts referred to by the primary index, and cutting back such inserted sheets along their upper edges to a greater extent than the primarily indexed sheets, forms the Patented Apr. 23, 1912.

subject matter of claims appearing in my application No. 529,587, filed of even date herewith. The transferred account sheets or leaves, those introduced into the ledger from another ledger already started, are designated 4L, 4*, a and they are all cut down so as to be enough shorter than the sheets 2 not to cover or overlie the exposed portions 3 thereof. This cutting down of the sheets will ordinarily not remove any writing upon the sheet and therefore will not disturb the record already made. The inserted record sheets i are then placed in front of the other sheets 2, of the Ai series so as to leave their exposed portions in full view. The sheets 4 are then preferably respectively cut back to leave a stepped series of exposed portions as indicated at 5, arranged in a line directly below the cut away parts of the sheets 2, on which exposed portions of sheets a may be placed indexing characters to designate the records upon the respective sheets. It will thus be seen that the inserted sheets l may be located at once by means of the primary index, and also that they are further sub-indexed, in the manner described, for convenient reference to and location of any individual record; and that such inserted leaves do not in any way interfere with the arrangement and use of sheets primarily intended for use in the self-indexed record into which they have been inserted. As a sheet a is filled it is replaced by a sheet 2 of full size which is then given its proper place in the book, and thus the inserted leaves gradually give place to those of full size so that the index is finally a selfindexed record of full and uniform sized leaves as it was primarily intended to be. The accounts coming under the Ale character of the index immediately follow those of the Ai series, and so on; but it is not thought to be necessary for an understanding of the invention to further describe its use.

The use of record sheets of less height than the full size indexed sheets permits of the insertion of additional sheets where it is inconvenient to take care of the desired number of records upon full size sheets cut back beyond the cuts of the indexed sheets between which they are inserted. For instance, the uppermost indexed leaf of a series may be already cut back close to its binding edge which would make it impossible to insert more than a small number of full length sheets with successively exposed portions. In such case the desired number of inserted sheets or leaves can be taken care of by employing those of less length than the full length indexed leaves, that is, sheets corresponding with those designated 4 in the drawings.

What I claim is 1. An indexed record, comprising a section or sub-division of record leaves of full and uniform size having their edges cut away to form a stepped series of exposed portions, a primary index, having characters which are positioned so as to designate respectively the said stepped portions of the leaves, and. a series of inserted record sheets placed between the said primarily indexed leaves, the inserted sheets heing of less size than the indexed leaves, whereby when inserted they leave exposed the indexing portions of said leaves and being along their edges cut away to leave exposed portions thereof in a stepped series for indexing purposes.

2. An indexed record, comprising a subdivision or section of leaves having their edges cut away to form a stepped series of exposed portions, a primary index, having characters which are positioned so as to designate respectively the said stepped exdexed leaves, and another set of inserted sheets of full size inserted between the pri mary indexed leaves and cut away to a greater extent than are the said leaves be tween which they are inserted.

3. An indexed record, comprising a section or sub-division of leaves having their upper edges cut away to form a stepped series of exposed portions, a primary index, the characters of which are positioned so as to designate respectively the said stepped portions of the leaves, and a series of inserted record sheets of less height than the indexed leaves, and being along their upper edge cut away to leave exposed portions thereof in a stepped series, and the latter provided with sub-indexing characters.

SIMEON l3. KIRTLEY. Witnesses J. S. BARKER,

N. CURTIS LAMMOND.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

